Post-match: USA v. Japan - September 9, 2025 - International Friendly

So are we good now?

 

Are we still bad?

 

Needed that W.

Against a Japan B team, but we will take it.

Pretty good performances from most tonight.

 

At least we’ll all calm down just a little between now and Oct.

Freeman is the biggest winner from this window for me. You can see the attributes and high ceiling. Won’t replace Dest this cycle but gotta like the potential.

Zendejas took his chance against a high level opponent while Luna hasn’t.

Richards keeps growing on me.

Roldan can’t play at the tempo of the others when they ramp up.

 

Maybe. Maybe not.

 

Sargent at risk

 

Maybe the sky isn’t falling and Poch does have at least a little knowledge about the black and white ball that we kick around?

 

I like winning. I like pretty goals. Groundbreaking analysis!

 

I’ll be crashing soon, so I won’t go player by player, but I’m trying to think of a player who didn’t help his stock by playing tonight. Maybe Luna, who was a bit uneven.

Sargent hurt by not playing at all; Downs stock up in his very brief appearance.

 

short of any injuries, I'd be surprised if we saw him again this cycle

 

There is no winning, only shades of losing. I still like Poch experimenting with different combos. For those who think we should dominate friendlies with our first team squad. I will say, and what start a tutorial of how to beat us with our projected starters before the real matches start. What are we Mexico.

 

While I don’t want to overhype this win, it feels massive for the USMNT to decisively beat a team like Japan, who’s right around us in the FIFA rankings—B-team or not. After a brutal stretch of losses against peer and higher-ranked teams for over a year, this victory carries extra weight. It’s a crucial step in breaking the losing streak and rebuilding confidence.

 

From here on out, it's CR90!

 

Around the 37th minute, there was a counter where Pulisic had the ball in space with 2 or 3 teammates making runs at the retreating defenders. Instead of trying to hit one of those teammates, he dribbled forward 20 yards or so, effectively closing himself down and stifling a potential attack. I wish we were better at hitting a quick ball instead of dribbling into congestion.

 

Haji Wright as the 3rd striker

 

Too tired to make a comment, It making an appearance as I’ve been critical of Poch so fair is fair.

 

Observations on this one:

1. Three CB formation seemed to be much more solid. I can’t imagine we change that in October but is it good enough long term? GB did that to steady the ship and eventually moved away.

2. Balogun MOTM for me. A pure striker performance that we’ve been missing for what seems like years.

3. Zendejas just needs to keep a string of performances like this together and will definitely benefit from a formation like this. Weah does not.

4. Not going to worry too much about Adams but his club and country performances have been subdued. Excited to see him find a strong vein of form. Club performances have been getting better each game.

5. Freese was solid but we seem to be stuck in mold of keeper than doesn’t look comfortable distributing. He also has these weird moments where the ball gets redirected into weird areas.

6. CB is going to be a major area of concern here as we are running out of time to find a partnership there and the pool is all over the place. Makes me wonder if three at the back is the way to go with Chris Richards playing sweeper.

 

Zendejas and Balogun were in my mind the difference makers even beyond their goals. Adding two technical players who know how to pass, move, and create space opened up our attack. McGlynn and Luna were good late subs - creative attackers going against tired legs. Freeman took his opportunity, too, defending well and getting involved in the attack. There are still defensive issues, but I like the three in the back. (I wish Banks had gotten a run out.) The press worked well but we should have taken better advantage of those opportunities. Yes, this was not Japan's A team, but I believe we learned something about our player pool.

 

Glad to see we went for a 3 man backline. Thought everybody looked much more comfortable.


Thought Alex Freeman was really good. Far from perfect, but I think the athleticism finally showed and I honestly think he's now RB2.


Alex Zendejas is biggest winner from the camp. Got a chance, slotted right in. Think he's earned a spot going forward.


Christian Roldan had some bad turnovers but I think his defensive cover, communication, leadership, and work rate made a difference that won't be appreciated enough. Not saying he should be on the WC roster but I think he helped himself.


I'm finally ready to concede that a healthy Balo is a lock now.


I think it's tough to leave Jack McGlynn off the roster going forward. Not going to play in every scenario but I think the fact that he is instant offense from anywhere makes a difference.


Biggest winners in camp- Zendejas, Roldan, McGlynn

Biggest losers in camp- Weah (as a locked in starter), Sargent, Berhalter


I think a couple guys who were not at camp may have lost as well just because you had some guys perform well in roles where others have failed.

 

Would love for someone (not me) to do a roster analysis and get to the bottom of this Japan B/C team question

 

per Jason Anderson on bsky:

 

Thoughts:

• I'm very happy for the team. B Team or not, this takes a tremendous amount of pressure off the team in terms of scoring and winning. It's not a shock that up 2-0 we played even better even as Japan put some of their better players in. Confidence matters.
• The team came out with a ton of fire. We finally had some hard tackles, we won loose balls, had some physical nature. We didn't back off a ton. I think this team needs this mentality.
• Team cohesion on the press and defense seemed much better; much fewer points of confusion. The offense wasn't perfectly in sync but much less getting in each others' way. These things can accelerate quickly.
• The biggest difference maker aside from that is probably just Balogun. He opens up a ton of space for everyone.
• Well, the biggest difference probably was just finishing -- our xG was very similar to South Korea, but we put two of them in. We're never going to be a strong finishing team but we need to make something.
• It's also a Japan B team, and the biggest gap really was just the lack of a Son-level attacker versus South Korea. I'm not sure we actually controlled the game better until later in the second half, but Japan B doesn't really have a dangerous attacker of that tier.
• I don't know that anyone really moved their stock a ton in my eyes, except maybe a little more certainty that Blackmon's issues last game were likely more first game jitters and being put into a bad situation. I wouldn't place him high up the depth chart, but he was much better today. Also, I think Roldan played exactly as I more or less expected -- not great on the ball but defensively the bite we missed with Berhalter.
• Zendejas played well, but this was more or less what I expected. I think he's very skilled but the question will be against more athletic teams. But perhaps I am still too much of a skeptic.
• As the Freeman bandwagon bus driver, I'm glad to welcome more people on board. He's not going to be a superstar but there's tremendous value in causing chaos and he's a physical handful.
• The 3 ATB worked well here -- I am still a bit skeptical that it will be the best idea with our better MFs in camp or Jedi around, but with Freeman / Arfsten / Ream / Blackmon on the field, it put all of them into a more comfortable position.

 

According to podcasters and others on here, Japan’s backups were better than most of our roster here.